Month: April 2015

I always been fan of cricket statistics and have a great respect and awe for the people who pull out bizarre yet unique statistics in a match. But when I heard about 286 runs scored in a single ball, I was dumbstruck. What the F*** was my first reaction when I first heard about it. How can a batsmen score 286 runs from a single ball? Is this really allowed? The stats which I remember from the recent past are Travis Birt’s hitting Clint McKay for 20 runs in one ball and our most beloved Virender Shewag’s hitting 17 runs of one ball bowled by Rana Naved-ul-hasan against Pakistan.

Many say its a myth which never happened as there is no evidence as such but newspapers edits from many countries and cricket statisticians says otherwise. It was the days when the batsmen can take more than four runs by running between the wickets. A match was played at Bonbury, Western Australia, between the Victorian team and a scratch XI from the neighbourhood. The first ball of the match was lofted and got struck in between the branches of a three-pronged branch of a tall jarrah tree which was present inside the field of play. The ball was completely out of reach and so the home side appealed for “lost ball”. But the umpires disagreed as the ball was visible and everybody could see the exact place where the ball got struck. The batsmen kept on running between the wickets while the home side found an axe to cut down the tree but didn’t succeed. So, instead of an axe, the home team brought out a shotgun and tried to blast the ball from the tree. After several attempts, the ball was finally dislodged from the branches and fell onto the outfield. None of the fielders bothered to catch the ball. By the time the ball reached the wicket keeper, the batsmen ran 286 times between the wickets and claimed the 286 runs they had accumulated. The touring side then declared their innings which is also considered as the shortest innings of the history of the game. And Victorians won the match. The record for most runs off a single delivery in cricket still stands and will never be able to break it (keeping the present rules of the cricket in mind).